Amitabh Bachchan said he is the legal owner of a controversial piece of agricultural land in Barabanki district, UP, and was well within his rights to donate it, reports Anil Anand.

Amitabh Bachchan on Sunday said he is the legal owner of a controversial piece of agricultural land in Barabanki district, Uttar Pradesh, and was well within his rights to donate it.

"At the time of donation, the said land was in my possession and I have voluntarily and with good intent donated the land to the gram sabha of Barabanki," Bachchan said in a statement.

He added that “an order of the additional commissioner of UP negating this claim has been stayed by Justice Devi Prasad Singh in the Lucknow bench of the UP High Court on June 8.”

Bachchan’s statement came in the wake of the UP Chief Minister Mayawati’s earlier remark that how could the superstar claim to be donating a land that did not belong to him in the first place.

He quoted the court order as having said: “Until further order of this court, the operation of the impugned order dated June 1, 2007, passed by the additional commissioner (administration) Faizabad division, shall remain stayed and the parties shall maintain status quo relating to the land in question.”

The statement quoted the high court order as having stated, “there was no urgency in the matter for the additional commissioner to move in a hasty way and decide the controversy at admission stage without considering the statutory provisions which call for an enquiry."

Bachchan, however, confirmed purchasing another land adjacent to the disputed one for constructing a school on the gram sabha’s demand.